Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The week got
off to a great start with Family Home Evening at our apartment.There were a lot of new faces this week as
well as the regulars.One of the men
(Deema) who comes brings us a few new sentences, words and phrases to work on
for the week.He gets a big kick out of
our trying but it helps quite a bit to have a native speaker coaching us once in
awhile.We are enjoying having everyone
to our apt each week so I know it will be hard to turn them back over to the
left bank couple when they arrive.We
are so glad it will be the Gundersens.We are really looking forward to their arrival although we can hardly
bear the thought of the Huffakers leaving us in just two short weeks.

Our Area
patriarch has been in the Mission for the past three weeks stopping in each of
the branches and giving patriarchal blessings.He was in Novosibirsk this past week and it was such a treat to be able
to visit with him for a little while during his visit.He spoke at a fireside for the members and
visitors on Wednesday evening which was terrific and then he took an hour out
on Thursday afternoon to speak just to the missionaries.We spent the hour discussing The Sermon on
the Mount, particularly the Beatitudes and how they build on each other with
the first being the easiest to implement into our lives and the last one the
hardest.We all had a great time with
him and then Sister Webb and I took him and his grandson who is traveling with
him, to dinner so we were able to spend a little more time with him.He is a very well educated, informed and most
interesting man.

During the
week we also welcomed the Noels to the mission.They will be serving in Krasnoyarsk as the CES couple in that city.They are from Salt Lake and after spending a
couple of days with them we know they will be loved by the people of
Krasnoyarsk.It was fun to spend a
little time with them before sending the off across the mission.

And we can't forget Elder Andersen's Birthday which was the same day as District meeting so we all sang Happy Birthday of course. Elder Andersen is one of the Presidents assistants and probably the best non-native Russian speaker in the mission. He is a great missionary and we love having him in our district. We will miss him when he gets transferred in about three weeks. I won't say where he is being transferred because I don't think he has told his mom yet and she occasionally reads this blog. (Sorry Sister Andersen - you will need to hear it from him.)

This past
weekend will forever be a real highlight in our mission.First, we travelled by Electric train (called
the lek trish key for short) for a little over an hour south of the city to the
small town of Bertsk. Everyone calls it a village but the population is over only 200,000).We
went with three of the sisters serving here in the city, Sister Sanford, Sister
Barlow and Sister Dement.Sister Sanford
is training the other two who are recent arrivals to the mission and she is
doing amazingly well.It was a blast
just to travel and get to visit with them for a little while.We were going to visit Tatyana who was set to
be baptized the next day (Sunday).We
had a great visit and lesson with her and her daughter, had a little Borscht
and just as we were leaving she asked if I would baptize her the next day.Well of course I said I would be honored but
I don’t mind telling you I was a little nervous.Doing this in Russian is a little tricky –
the names alone are hard enough never mind the language for everything else.I spent the evening and Sunday morning
reviewing and studying up on the language necessary to perform the baptism
ordinance.I wouldn’t say it came off
without a hiccup but all things considered it went fairly well. Tatyana is a wonderful person and it was such
a blessing to be able to actively participate in her baptism.It was a doubly special baptism as Sophia, we
have told you about her before, was also baptized.They are both pretty special people who will
remain forever in our hearts.Another
amazing week has come to a close, the time continues to fly by and our love for
the country and the people of Siberia continues to grow.Everyone have a wonderful week. – Das va
donya.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

It is nearly
the end of July; we’ve been in Russia for 11 months; we have 7 more to go but
who is counting.The time seems to be
flying by – the Huffaker’s whom we have become very close to will be leaving
for their home in Colorado in just over 2 more weeks.We will certainly miss them.In
preparing for their departure the weekly Family Home Evening has been moved to
our apt and will be here until the Gundersen’s arrive in September.Our first FHE was this past Monday and there
is where the fun began.

After
spending the day in the office we slipped out a little early to go home and
prepare for the meeting.We needed to
fix something for everyone to eat as most come straight from work and don’t
have a chance to eat.We had a small
problem in the kitchen but everyone seemed to enjoy the soup, bread and desert
so “all’s well that ends well”.Tuesday
it was back to office stuff and our weekly meeting with President and Sister
Gibbons.We had 4 new missionaries (2
Sisters and 2 Elders) that came into our mission from the Moscow West Mission
as part of that consolidation so we went over everything with them that we
would do for new missionaries.Wednesday
evening Elder Webb attended Mission Presidency Meeting where we video
conference with the two counselors who are overnight train rides away, one in
Omsk to the West and the other in Krasnoyarsk to the East.Isn’t technology wonderful.Sister Webb went to English Club where she
had to conduct the last part of the meeting.Going to English is so fun – different people seem to come each week,
some are very regular but there are always new faces.We get to work with those who speak a little
better English than most, so meeting them and learning about their lives, goals,
and aspirations is really an amazing part of our whole experience here.

Thursday
evening we had the two Elders serving as Assistants to the President over as
they taught a lesson to a young man, Alexsey.He is living here with his mom and going to the University studying to
be a steam power engineer.He will be
baptized on the 29th along with Sophia who has had several lessons
here in our apt as well.We are very
excited for them – it has been a wonderful experience for both of us to be able
to participate in their teaching.Friday
the Sister Missionaries brought Jenia over for a lesson also.She is about 40 something and recently lost
her son to a sudden and mysterious illness that took him in about 2
months.She is really struggling with
the pain and emotion of that loss and after the lesson she wanted to hear our
thoughts on why such things happen and how we deal with them and if we do
actually have a Heavenly Father how can He help; will He help?She is in a very tender place and the
physical pain of this recent loss has been very difficult for her to
handle.I think we were able to help as
we discussed God’s Plan of Happiness, the eternal nature of our earthly
relationships, and the blessings of eternal families.

Saturday morning we up bright and early and
headed out to our local renok.All the
local farmers were in (a giant farmer’s market) so we loaded up with fresh
fruit, produce, and eggs, bought some weed barrier to act as a sunscreen for
our kitchen window and headed home.After dropping everything off, we headed out to the nearest mall where
we finally broke down and bought an air conditioner.It has been super hot and humid here, and
since we don’t have air conditioning it is about as miserable inside as it is
out.It is just a little portable one
but it has cooled our apt down to a tolerable 79 degrees.It has been nearly 90 inside our apt so this
has been a welcomed relief for the past couple of days.We are going to enjoy this for the rest of
the summer.

Then in the
afternoon we hooked up with Alexsey (from Thursday eve) and the Huffakers and
we all went to the Dolphin Show.It
wasn’t a big show – only two dolphins and a small tank but it was really
fun.We sat in the 2nd row so
as to have a really good view, about 5 feet from the tank but when they came by
and handed the people in the front row a big piece of plastic to keep the water
off we knew we were in trouble.After
the show we walked to the Huffaker’s, soaking wet, for a visit before heading
home. Today was Sunday and it was great
to have a quite Sabbath to rest and rejuvenate for the week ahead.

We are
having a marvelous time in Sibera and one thing has been manifest over and
over.People are the same no matter
where you are.They love and care for
their families, for the most part they care about others, they work hard, play
hard, and want to be good.I think if we
as human beings could just get out of our own way and all be a little more
trusting and caring what a wonderful world we could have.Everyonehave a marvelous week.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

When we sit
down at the end of the week and reflect on all the activity that takes place we
wonder how we keep packing so many experiences into such a short time. The weeks seem to just fly by.We have decided that with so much sunlight it
makes it a little easier to just keep going but we do get worn out by the end
of the week.The office stuff stays
about the same each week – missionaries coming and going, visa problems,
dealing with money issues in three currencies (dollars, rubles, & tenge)
and just trying to keep each other up to speed so one of us doesn’t get left in
the dust on one thing or another.In
addition to all the normal stuff this week we celebrated both President and
Sister Gibbons’ birthdays, paid a visit to the Big Reenok, had a Sr. Couples
conference, said goodbye to one of the regular employees (leaving to have a
baby), held our district meeting, attended a Branch activity and prepared talks
for sacrament meeting today.Oh – and we
attended the wedding and reception (by Skype) of our beautiful granddaughter
Brenna and her husband Will.Congratulations to the new couple – Mr. and Mrs. Davis!!

So how fun
is this – President Gibbons’ birthday is the 10th and Sister Gibbons
is the 11th of July.We had a
great staff meeting on Tuesday, as we celebrated both birthdays together and
since it was transfer day several of the missionaries who were in the city stopped by to share a birthday
wish as well.They are so great and everyone
enjoyed being with them on their special days.We also sent two of our best missionaries home this same day which is
always sad.One was Elder Ortner who was
serving as our District Leader – the other Elder Bounous had been our District
Leader when we first arrived.

Then it was
off to the “BIG” Reenock after work where we bought new shopkas (hats) for
winter – it will be here sooner than we would like.They are supposed to be cheaper in the summer
but we weren’t sure they were.Then
Wednesday was our Senior Couples Conference.We gathered at the Mission Home in the afternoon where President and
Sister Gibbons shared a few thoughts with us and we each shared our
testimony.It was insightful to see what
motivated each of us to serve a mission.None of us ever dreamed we would be in Russia, let alone Siberia but
here we are.It was a strength to each
of us to share our feelings of faith and the joys and experiences we were each
having.There were 4 Senior Couples in
attendance – 3 of us serving our first mission the other couple was serving
their 5th mission together ( 1 in Scotland, 1 in Cambodia and this
is the 3rd time they have been to Russia).Not sure we are up for that but they were
amazing.After meeting for a while we
all went to dinner at the Mexican restaurant (Russian version) – It is really
pretty good – not like home but it will do in a pinch.Then after dinner we walked to the Opera
House to see the Russian Ballet – Copillia – of all the performances we have
seen there this one we think was our favorite.

Friday brought
our weekly district meeting from 1pm to 4pm give or take.One of the senior couples, the Holmes’, (the
ones on their 5th mission) was still in town so they attended as
well.We ended up with 15 counting us
for our meeting and lunch.Sister Webb
fixed burritos which were a huge hit and then after we got everyone off we went
back to the office for a farewell party and baby shower (sort of) for one of
the employees and a welcome on board party for her replacement.It was hard to say goodbye to Yulia, she is
the accountant that works for the church and has been very helpful to both of
us in helping us understand many of the procedures and much of the language as
we have learned our way around things in the office.

Saturday
rolled around pretty quickly and it was a hot one.The humidity was high, the air still, the sky
clear as a bell, and temperature around 90 - a perfect day for a boat ride with
our Branch.There were just over 80 who
came and once we all got loaded onto the boat we took off upriver.It was nice to be on the water.This is third largest river in Russia and
although it runs south to north we didn’t get far enough upstream to make much
of a difference temperature wise.It
reminded us a lot of the Columbia River back home except for the color of the
water!!We enjoyed the afternoon ride,
most of the folks got off the boat at a big island upriver for a couple of
hours (they would catch the boat back on its next run) we returned with the
Huffakers, a few of the missionaries, and our District President and his wife
and new little daughter Sophia.We all
went to Carl’s Jr. for a hamburger before heading to our separate homes.

All we can
say about Sunday is – it is great to have it over.We both had to give a talk in church so we
were greatly relieved when that was over and we could let go of the
stress.Speaking in church partly in bad
Russian and partly through an interpreter and hoping that what you want to say
is coming out okay is a very exhausting experience.We think it went pretty well though.The people were very nice in telling us we
did well and are getting better (a little) with our language. Anyway, we did
what we could and let the spirit handle the rest.

It has been
a magnificent week for us (as we have discovered every week is) and we hope it
has been for you as well.We are loving
our time together and taking care of each other as we go from day to day.We know there will always be a piece of our
heart here in Siberia.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

This week
brought our trip to Kazakhstan to an end as we visited the capital city of
Astana.In 1997 the capital of
Kazakhstan was moved from Almaty to Astana and since that time Astana has
blossomed into a very beautiful and modern city.It was amazing to us that in less than 15
years so much building has taken place in this city.The new city is a model of urban planning and
is so inviting in so many different ways.From the indoor beach to the “Tree of Life” to the Presidential White
House and on to the Pyramid and the “all seeing eye”, a five kilometer
promenade, it is a remarkable architectural and construction achievement.

We were
privileged to attend another founder’s meeting for the church in Astana.It takes 50 people (permanent residents of
the city) who are willing to sign the charter, and submit copies of their
passports and financial records to the government in order to charter a church
and apply for preaching licenses in that city.There are only 25 members in Astana and 16 of those are either
missionaries or ex-pats who work for the US Embassy or teach at the
university.This leaves less than 10
members to sign the charter or a shortfall of 40 people.We were witnesses to a miracle as 42 people
showed up to sign their names on the dotted line, friends of the missionaries
and/or members or “friends of friends”.The meeting was a huge success and the paperwork is now being assembled
for submission to the government for the necessary charters and licenses.The spirit was very present as people came
and gave their support to a church they knew very little about.Since the church is not chartered or licensed
yet – no teaching or discussion about the church or our beliefs could be
conducted.The missionaries cannot wear
their nametags or proselyte in any way.They can only do service and teach English which is apparently enough to
win the hearts of the people as was evidenced by the supporters who came to the
founder’s meeting.Overall it was an
amazing and powerfully felt experience.We were so thankful to have been a part of such an historic event for
the church in Kazakhstan.

It was good
to get back to Novosibirsk.When we got
back though, we hit the ground running.There was a visa trip to send off (22 of our missionaries left for Kiev,
Ukraine) and organize, Leadership training meeting for 26 missionaries,
District meeting, (remember we feed everyone after the meeting is over) and a
branch activity (commemorating the 4th of July) organized by the
missionaries with food provided by – you guessed it – the senior couple!!It has
been another fantastic week for us.We
feel so blessed to be serving here at this time and we know that the Lord sent
us here to support and help the missionaries and members as they grow and
strengthen the church in Siberia.We
have seen many exciting and miraculous things and expect much more to occur
before we return home.It is a great
time for the Russian people, a great time for the Church in Russia and the
perfect time to be here and watch as events unfold in the lives of the people
we have come to love as our own family.We wish you all a very exciting and wonderful week.We love you all.

The Astana Shopping Mall
one end of the 5k Promenade

Looking down the Promenade from the Mall
Govt bldgs and visiting dignitary lodging

﻿

Inside the Mall
This tower is a free fall ride
around the top is a monorail as well
as a log flume ride behind me
the "Beach" and Pools are also on the top level

Krabby Pattie anyone?

The "Tree of life" stand in the middle of the
Promenade and is 97 meters tall

The Presidential Palace aka
"The White House"
We ran out of time so were not able to get a picture of the
Pyramid behind this building

A picture of some of the flower gardens in the Promenade
taken from the top of the tower

Back home
We went out in the Park next to the Church Building for
a closing Prayer after our Leadership Training Mtg

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Shawsh-lik
on P-day!!We bought a little charcoal
box, the Russian version of a Hibachi, and some skewers, wood chips, etc. and
had a Russian BBQ on Monday this week.We fed all the missionaries in the city for their P-Day activity as well
as some church members and some non-members.It was a blast.Chicken, Pork,
and Beef Kebabs and all the trimmings were featured.It turned out to be a huge success judging
from the comments made and all the people who attended.Anyway, we had fun preparing for and putting
it on for everyone.Just like home
except we sure missed the big gas grill. Then it was off to the Metro and the Left
Bank, and a 20 minute walk to Huffaker’s for the weekly Family Home
Evening.It was a great evening and well
attended by the young people.We even
had a non- member father and his twin 18 yr. old sons who came to listen.We all had a wonderful time.

That was
Monday.Tuesday was our weekly office
staff meeting with Pres. and Sister Gibbons.Much planning and organizing was on the docket as we get ready to bring
the entire country of Kazakhstan into our mission.We received our first three missionaries from
Moscow, slated for KZ over the weekend.They are just great and as expected will be a great addition to our
missionaries.After our staff meeting
and taking care of the normal business necessary for the day we headed out to a
craft fair.It was pretty interesting
but not a lot different than what we can see every day at any of the
neighborhood reenocks.We think it was
meant to be that we should go however, because after roaming around the booths
for a while we noticed a KFC across the street and decided to get a quick
bite.While we were sitting there eating
a man came by and said – “I heard you speaking English. Are you from America?The sound of English being spoken without a
Russian Accent is like music to my ears.I just had to stop and say hello.”We had quite a discussion with him, met his Russian wife who teaches
English and enjoyed a pleasant time filling a needed void in his life
apparently.He and his wife are in Novo
taking care of her aging mother and have been here for 4 years.Prior to that time they had been living in Colorado
for 11 years.Anyway, he is now coming
to church and meeting with our missionaries.So even tho’ we were feeling guilty for leaving the office for a couple
of hours it was all good.We made it
back to the office, finished up a few items there and finally made it
home.That evening had our last Russian
lesson with our tutor from the MTC.It
was a bittersweet parting.We stayed up
late baking cookies (see below), doing laundry and getting ready for our trip
on Thursday.Along, came Wednesday – exciting
news – Brian and Barb Gunderson, great friends from Wenatchee, have received an
assignment to serve a mission in Russia, Novosibirsk no less.They will be arriving in September.We are anxious to welcome them to SIBERIA!!The rest of the day was spent playing catch
up at the office.Then we headed out for
English.We are doing the advanced group
again this session but this time we had some help from the Sisters.In fact they did the whole thing, very
nice.They did a fantastic job too.We had a fairly large group with some amazing
English speakers and some really interesting people.It was fun getting to meet and know them
all.After English we shared Sister
Webb’s Chocolate Chip cookies (5 doz) baked the night before (see above) with
everyone who came.They were a big hit
as you might well expect.We saved back 4
doz to pack for our trip the next morning.

Thursday
morning it was off to Almaty, Kazakhstan.What a treat it has been to be here.The grass is green, the streets well paved, sidewalks are smooth, air is
fresh and the MOUNTAINS are green.We
drove up to a ski lodge in the mountains, rode a gondola up another mountain to
a spot where the country of Kazakhstan was dedicated for the preaching of the
gospel, and spent the weekend with some wonderful Kazak people. We held a fireside about Family History Saturday evening followed by a Founder's meeting which is necessary to register the church for preaching in Kazakhstan. Today (Sunday) we attended church and heard some sweet testimonies from the faithful members of Almaty. Elder Webb bore his testimony - (in Russian) and time ran out before Sister Webb had a chance to do the same. After church the Senior Couple serving here hosted us all for dinner and an afternoon of visiting and sharing experiences of church service. This is their second mission; they served a couple of years ago in the Moscow West mission. The 4 young missionaries serving here joined us for dinner as well. It was a wonderful Sunday.

In the morning we leave for Astana, the capital
of KZ for a couple more days and then back to Novo on Wednesday.Almaty is a beautiful city and the mountains
reminded us a lot of our own mountains back home.Being from the APPLE CAPITAL of the WORLD it
was interesting for us to learn that Almaty means “grandfather apple” and they
say that all apples can be genetically traced back to Almaty!Who knew!Enjoy the pictures and be thankful for the blessings of life we are all
privileged to enjoy.Life is good.Our love to all.

P.S.We are posting this entry from Almaty but are
unable to see it as all blogs are blocked inside KZ.We are told that if you download Opera you
can read blogs but they are working on making sure that gets blocked as well.Anyway, please excuse any flubs you come
across as we were unable to edit.

Sister Webb w/Grandfather Apple

Joining us for the afternoon -
THE BEATLES

Looking over Almaty from the
Dedication site

"Trash Art" in the park
a short walk from our hotel

Going crazy in the "American Isle" at the grocery store

This just looked too much like our mountains
This is roughly 8000' tho & the bare hillsides
are from snow and avalanche damage - not logging

Most of the missionary force in front of the
Branch Building in Almaty